


A Little Bird, Singing in the Night

by Evenmoor



Category: Nikita (TV 2010), Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Computers, Friendship, Gen, Hacking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-08-15
Packaged: 2017-12-23 14:24:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evenmoor/pseuds/Evenmoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Birkhoff secretly chats with a fellow hacker, a mysterious individual known as "Finch."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Bird, Singing in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the first half of season 2 of _Nikita_ , and during season 1 of _Person of Interest_. 
> 
> Also, who would've loved to see Reese and Roan go at it? That would've been an awesome showdown. Which Reese, of course, would've won.

Birkhoff stared at the screen indecisively for a few moments. It was the middle of the night; by all rights, he should be asleep, like Nikita and Michael were. The sleep of the righteous.

_Ha._

The righteous, indeed. At least he figured he was on the right side this time - for what it was worth.

If it weren't for his countermeasures, Division would have caught up with Nikki and Mikey ages ago. Either that, or it would've been Oversight, or Gogol, or one of the countless other groups and individuals who wanted them dead, dismembered, torched, or just generally removed from circulation. In their line of work, enemies were a dime a dozen. Simple survival was a daily victory, one Birkhoff treasured; he _liked_ being alive.

Making up his mind, he opened up his personal shell program, a private chat room that didn't exist when they weren't there. It couldn't be hacked, or tracked, or traced. And there were only two people on Planet Earth who knew of its existence.

 **knock knock** , he typed, a smirk crossing his lips.

To his gratification, though not his surprise, he received an almost immediate response. **_Hello, Shadowwalker. It's good to hear from you after all this time._**

Birkhoff snorted quietly. Not only did his teacher type in precise, complete sentences, he was a master of understatement. **u know me, im a survivor**

 ** _I was pleased to hear that you escaped from Division,_** was the reply that appeared a moment later. ** _I would be sad to lose one of my best students._**

A faint smile touched his lips as he read the screen. He wasn't surprised that Finch was keeping tabs on him, not one bit. Did the man (woman? -though Finch always struck Birkhoff as more male than female for some reason) ever sleep? **glad 2 know u were keeping an eye on me. kinda creepy, tho.**

_**I still think your screen name is somewhat pretentious.** _

This, of course, was Finch's idea of a sense of humor. He was probably an English teacher in real life; for one thing, he always typed in complete sentences. How could a world-class hacker be so stuffy? **haha, very funny, _finch_.**

 ** _The more pompous the alias, the more likely they are to remember you,_** Finch pointed out dryly. **_As a hacker, that is normally what you do not want._**

 **they already know who i am. wouldnt make a difference now.** Birkhoff remembered the first time that he met Finch, years ago now; he'd been just starting out as Shadowwalker, talented enough to try his hand at hacking a peculiar secure section of the Department of Justice (some mysterious highly-protected area in the Department of the Special Counsel), and stupid enough to think he could get away with it. Whoever he was, Finch kicked him out and knocked him on his metaphorical backside. Once Birkhoff'd finished smarting from the swift kick in the pants he'd been administered, he had admired Finch's coding: it was beautiful, elegant even. What the mysterious person had to do with the government, Birkhoff never found out, but Finch didn't take all that long to track him right back to his own computer.

It was the start of an educational, if odd, relationship.

Birkhoff wasn't surprised that Finch knew about Division. Frankly, he wasn't surprised at anything Finch knew. He'd be more surprised if he came across something Finch _didn't_ know. **we could use ur help against them** , he typed, but he already knew the answer he would get: the same refusal as always. Finch was obviously a hacking and coding genius, and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, but he never wanted to cross Division. Not that Birkhoff really blamed him for that, all things considered, but Finch would have been a huge asset to him and Nikki and Michael.

 ** _As I told you before, I can't afford to draw attention to myself by attacking them directly_** , Finch replied. To Birkhoff's surprise, however, more words appeared on his screen a few moments later. **_Their operations in certain areas of the United States, however, might have been irreparably compromised due to unforeseeable circumstances._**

Birkhoff stared at the screen; was Finch really moving against Division now, after all this time? **why now?** he asked. **why not b4?**

The reply was a long time in coming. **_I found what I was looking for. Now I can finally act. Good luck, Shadowwalker. I'd tell you to be careful, but you know better than most what you're up against._**

_ >Finch has logged off._


End file.
